A new Joint Position Statement from the National Psoriasis Foundation concludes that patients being treated with IL-17 or IL-23 inhibitors need not be tested for latent tuberculosis (TB) infection in most cases.
The statement was released in March in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. About 88% of the members from the National Psoriasis Foundation Medical Board and International Psoriasis Council approved the new statement.
Andrew Blauvelt, MD, MBA, is a dermatologist, researcher, and owner of Blauvelt Consulting, LLC. He also served as a co-author of the statement paper, which he recently discussed with The Reading Room. The exchange is edited for length and clarity.
What key issue did the panel want to address?
Blauvelt: Testing for latent TB infection has been standard for all biologics over the past 25 years. Most of this stems from the fact that tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is involved in TB granuloma formation, which helps contain and control TB infection within tissue. Therefore, using TNF inhibitors for psoriasis and other diseases can induce reactivation of latent TB.
